Many people now believe that Russia is in some trouble, as Putin now appears weak (from some people's perspectives) after the recent uprisings in the country. The Wagner Paramilitary Group, who are also known as Putin's private army, rose up against him over the weekend in what they called a 'march for justice.' The leader of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of launching attacks on his own group and hiding the bodies of the over 2,000 people that were killed. He led the remainder of his troops onward to Russia's capital of Moscow, but stopped in the city of Rostov. He sent a message to Putin - send the chief of the general staff and Shoigu, or the Wagner group will blockade Rostov and head to Moscow. Putin refused and addressed Russia in a speech, where he talked about how Prigozhin's revolt was a huge stab in the back to him, as they used to be good friends. When Prigozhin and his army of over 5,000 men approached the outskirts of Moscow, the Belarusian president called in and spoke to the leader of the Wagner group. He said that all charges would be dropped against them and they could avoid bloodshed if the Wagner group backed off. The group listened and retreated, and they moved to positions in Belarus. However, many people think that this could be a sign of Putin's weakness, as he needed the Belarusian president to step in to stop a civil war.
On another note, recently, after extreme heat plagued northern India, they are now receiving the opposite. The states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are now suffering as a severe monsoon floods the region, washing away cars, boats, and even entire houses. People believed that the rains could finally bring some good, after the dry, arid weather from the past few weeks, but the monsoon has brought more hardship than relief. Four people are already dead, and damage costs are racking up- one estimate puts the costs at over $100,000 USD (Rs 78-lakh) already!
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